Morning Brief: August 20, 2012

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Canada said goodbye to one of its last true Progressive Conservative voices with the sudden death of retired senator John Lynch-Staunton. A Montrealer appointed to the red chamber by Brian Mulroney, Lynch-Staunton was the Opposition leader in the Senate during much of the Chretien era and fought hard to bring Tory fortunes back following the 1993 electoral massacre that took the party to just two seats. Over the next dozen years, until he retired in 2005, Lynch-Staunton worked diligently to improve legislation and to make the Senate more relevant in federal politics. He was also a very generous and funny man who could be fiercely partisan under the right circumstances and openly cooperative with other parties when the situation demanded. Lynch-Staunton reportedly collapsed during a family gathering in Alberta.

Lynch-Staunton would no doubt have been interested in last night’s debate between Quebec’s provincial party leaders. The purported front-runner, PQ Leader Pauline Marois, used the occasion not to attack her opponents, but to remind Quebecers that it’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the federal government they have to fear. Sunday’s debate was the only free for all with all of the leaders. The leaders of the three main parties — the PQ, the CAQ and the Liberals — will all square off in one-on-one debates over the next three nights.

In case it’s too subtle, the PM’s trip to the North coincides with Operation Nanook, DND’s annual summer exercises in the Arctic.

Overseas, Julian Assange came out of hiding to speak with reporters in London and to demand that the United States “renounce its witch hunt against WikiLeaks.” He also called for the release of Bradley Manning, who is awaiting trial in the U.S. accused of leaking classified documents to the WikiLeaks site. Assange is the subject of a fascinating diplomatic standoff between Britain and Ecuador, which over the weekend granted the WikiLeaks founder asylum. He is currently holed up in a tiny apartment belonging to the Ecuadorian embassy in London in an effort to avoid extradition to Sweden where he is wanted on alleged sex charges. Assange insists these are just trumped up and that he would be turned over to the U.S. the moment he sets foot in Sweden. Assange just needs to figure out how he can get from a flat in Knightsbridge to a plane at Heathrow to South America without setting foot on U.S. soil. Stay tuned.

The parade of politicians begins today for the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO), which is holding its annual conference in Ottawa. Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty speaks today. On deck for tomorrow: Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath. Also speaking at the conference are CBC’s Amanda Lang; Kathleen Wynne, Ontario’s minister of municipal affairs and housing; Transportation Minister Bob Chiarelli; FCM president and Edmonton city councillor Karen Leibovici; and even Rex Murphy.

Any late-August chill in the air will likely be offset by the warming tempers among unionized workers in Canada. Among the hot spots:

The Canadian Auto Workers’ first national Constitutional and Collective Bargaining Convention kicks off today in Toronto and runs through Friday. CAW National President Ken Lewenza speaks this morning, setting the stage for the union’s upcoming negotiations with the Big 3 automakers.

The Amalgamated Transit Union holds a news conference in support of locked out Moncton transit workers.

And across British Columbia, in places like Burns Lake, Cranbrook, Dawson Creek, Nelson and Prince George, members of the B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union (BCGEU) are staging one-day job actions in front of their local forestry ministry offices to press their contract demands.

Here and there:

Gov.-Gen. David Johnston and Veterans Affairs Minister Steven Blaney are in Dieppe, France, to take part in special events commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Dieppe Raid, including tributes to the fallen members of the South Saskatchewan Regiment and the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada.

Nova Scotia MP Scott Armstrong is to announce federal government funding for Access Labels, while MP Greg Kerr announces federal government support for dairy processors.

The 107th annual conference of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police gets underway in Cape Breton.

Statistics Canada releases the help-wanted figures for May.

In Featured Opinions today:

Derek Burney and Fen Hampson write that as the Prime Minister and his fellow Canadians enjoy the waning days of summer, they have much to feel good about, including the outcome of last week’s visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and a triple A rating from Moody’s Investor Service rating.

Daryl Copeland analyzes the strange twists and turns in the WikiLeaks saga. Copeland suggests Julian Assange has provided governments with their very own “Napster moment,” a phenomenon that caught the music industry off-guard and forced them to adapt to the presence of new technologies that upended their business model. Will governments be able to adjust to the fact that the classified information monopoly once enjoyed by governments is over?

VP Joe Biden continues to be the main target of the Republican pundits. Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani last week questioned Biden’s “mental capacity” to serve as vice-president. Yesterday, he said “Joe’s a laugh line on Jay Leno …. He’s not a vice-president, he’s a joke.”

Finally, just when is it appropriate for an elected official to strip naked and frolic in the Sea of Galilee? Apparently not when you’re on a privately funded all-expenses-paid junket to the Holy Land as a Republican congressman and a few of his colleagues found out. And now the FBI wants to know more.